Standing By The Wayside
by Lady Addiction
Summary: A character study on Fujisaki Akari as she and the gang graduate from middle school. (COMPLETE, one-shot)


Standing By The Wayside (A "Hikaru no Go" vignette) By Lady Addiction  
  
DISCLAIMER: A masterpiece by the team of Yumi Hotta & Takeshi Obata. I had absolutely nothing to do with it---to my lasting regret!  
  
A/N: This is just a small character piece meant as a writing exercise. Hope that those that read it will like it enough to put a review on it~ It is my first HnG fic.  
  
@~@~@  
  
I don't know when I first lost him.  
  
I don't know if I ever had him.  
  
Hikaru was just like his name---something shining, something bright.  
  
I never knew anything would tear us apart though. I thought we would be together forever, changing from childhood friends in elementary and middle school to girlfriend-boyfriend in highschool and college. I would be studying for a career in Nursing and Hikaru---well, I thought he would be going for a career in Physical Education since that's the only subject he liked.  
  
I never thought that someone like Hikaru would find something just as bright as himself, just as special.  
  
When he entered the world of Go, he left me in his dust.  
  
Go---a game for old men in creepy, smoky hideaways. I never thought it would be something that would catch Hikaru's swiftly wandering attention.  
  
It wasn't Touya-san that dragged Hikaru into Go, though. It was something else.  
  
After Hikaru was hospitalized that one day when we were rummaging through his grandfather's attic, I talked to his grandfather and he told me a tale I couldn't believe, was afraid to believe.  
  
Of ghosts haunting gobans.  
  
A ghost haunting a goban? Why something so---simple? Why not a church, or an abandoned house, or a graveyard? And of all things, why did the one goban with a ghost have to be the one that Hikaru and I found in his grandfather's attic!  
  
Well, I guess it doesn't matter now.  
  
Whether a ghost really did pull Hikaru into the world of Go, or whether it was Touya-san himself, I don't really know. All I know was that---here I am, stepping into highschool without my best friend beside me. Hikaru was quitting school since Go professionals were paid by the Japanese Go Institute to play games and to tutor budding Go students.  
  
Here is where our paths are separating.  
  
Here is where I find myself alone.  
  
Afraid.  
  
Abandoned.  
  
"Akari!"  
  
I turned around, one hand flipping back my long brown hair. Shindou Hikaru was standing a few feet from me, holding a bouquet of flowers. He handed it over with a big grin. "Good luck in highschool, Akari! You're one of the smartest people I know."  
  
"Oh, Hikaru!" I couldn't help myself---I flung myself at him. Hikaru had grown tall and slender, surprisingly strong. We whirled around in a wide circle, laughter and tears spilling out. "I'm going to miss you, Hikaru," I whispered into his ear, staring in the far distance.  
  
"Heh, I know you're going to come over to my new apartment once a month to bug me to teach you Go!" Hikaru teased. But I heard that soft hitch in his usually obnoxiously loud voice.  
  
"You bet I will! And I better not hear that you're missing any more games, okay!" I thumped his back and giggled as he moaned loudly in protest.  
  
"I'm over that, Akari! Watch out---I'll be the next Meijin!"  
  
"Hah! That'll be Touya-san!"  
  
"Well, then, the next Honinbou!"  
  
"So what are you doing after this, Hikaru?" I asked as we let go of each other. I took out a handkerchief and wiped away my tears. Hikaru just scrubbed at his face with his sleeves.  
  
"Me? Well, my parents and grandparents were talking about going out for a real special dinner. What about you?"  
  
"Me and my parents are going somewhere, too. We're visiting our relatives and having a party there."  
  
"Well, then, I guess I'll see you around, Akari."  
  
"I guess."  
  
I looked at him, face flushed with laughter, eyes a little red. And leaned forward to give him a soft kiss.  
  
Heartbreaking to see him so surprised. I guess I always knew that he didn't know how I felt for him. Still, I secretly hoped that maybe . . .  
  
"Akari . . ." Understanding and sadness in his big, light-colored eyes.  
  
"I know, Hikaru. Just take care of yourself, okay."  
  
I walked away, knowing he was still looking at me. Tears fell down again, but I felt different.  
  
I have chased after a star and, finally, touched it.  
  
It is only right to let something that bright and shining go so that it'll find it's own path.  
  
And I'll stay here, both feet on the ground, finding my own path.  
  
-FINIS- 


End file.
